Every year for a decade now, The Times has published an annual guide to the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles, though in the five years I've disappeared into the task for months I've always felt more kinship with the word 'essential' as a governing principle.
Plenty about compiling the 101 is daunting (and a privilege I never take for granted), but the saddest part comes at the beginning of the process. I sit down in late summer and flip through the previous edition to mark which restaurants have closed, either permanently or temporarily.
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